


Mine - A Last Of Us Two Rewrite.

by DoomsdayGalX



Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Friends, Mentions of different types of mental illness, More than one Main Character, OC/Main Character Pairing, Other, Rewrite, Slow Burn, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:42:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25831522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoomsdayGalX/pseuds/DoomsdayGalX
Summary: Joel and Ellie lived peacefully in Jackson, enjoying the normality of Jackson. But in the matter of weeks their new life has been turned upside down, something has been taken from Jackson and they want it back. But when faced with the thief, Ellie must decided if the destruction she left in her wake was worth it.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Betrayal

**Author's Note:**

> *Hi All 
> 
> I’m a new fanfiction writer, and I had been debating whether to write this or not because right now the Last Of us fandom is spilt right down the middle regarding the new game. I for one enjoyed the game, although I disliked the direction the game took, I still enjoyed playing it. When I finished the game, I was left empty. There were so many questions that had been left unanswered, this fanfiction is in no way meant to shit on the people who spent years creating the game, this is meant purely as a re-write of the game if it had taken a different direction. So, I hope you enjoy*

*Hi All 

I’m a new fanfiction writer, and I had been debating whether to write this or not because right now the Last Of us fandom is spilt right down the middle regarding the new game. I for one enjoyed the game, although I disliked the direction the game took, I still enjoyed playing it. When I finished the game, I was left empty. There were so many questions that had been left unanswered, this fanfiction is in no way meant to shit on the people who spent years creating the game, this is meant purely as a re-write of the game if it had taken a different direction. So, I hope you enjoy* 

Trigger Warning This chapter contains content that some readers may find unsettling. 

Chapter one 

“Betrayal” 

Ellie was curled up in Joel’s bed, running her hand across the old bite on her wrist. Joel and Tommy had been missing for nearly two days. Ellie couldn’t help but be overcome with worry. They had to be hurt, Joel and Tommy were resilient people they wouldn’t just go missing they had to be trapped somewhere. Ellie had been lying in bed for a few hours trying to come up with a reason for their disappearance. 

The plan had been for Joel and Tommy to head back up to the lodge which was just a short 15 minutes' walk away from old town, from there Adam and Jesse would swap over with them. When Jesse had reported that neither of them had shown up, a larger patrol group had gone to check it out. But Joel and Tommy were simply nowhere to be found. In their place was a small group of infected. At first, Adam had claimed that maybe they had found somewhere else to stay while the storm passed over, it was almost believable until their horses had shown up dead not too far from the lodge, both horses had been found with bullet holes right between their eyes. So, this definitely hadn’t been the infected from the lodge, it was a human’s doing. For the next few hours Ellie went over the list of people she knew that bore a grudge against Joel and Tommy, but the list was too long to be able to possibly figure out who it was. Even if it was them, how could they possibly know when to attack Joel and Tommy without the Patrol schedule. 

Then it hit her, someone inside of Jackson must have given information to the attackers, considering they knew where the lodge had been and when Tommy and Joel would be there. She had to share this with Maria and Adam, Adam was in charge of keeping an eye on the Rota for the patrols so he knew most of the people who had access to the information. 

She picked her radio from Joel’s bedside table. 

“Adam? Are you at the stables right now?” The line was silent for a while before she heard a buzz on the other end. 

“Hello? How may I be of assistance Ellie” His voice crackled on the other end of the line. 

“I’m coming to meet you at the stables, I can’t speak right now” Ellie didn’t trust speaking over the radio about this, a lot of the patrollers had access to radios in their homes. She pulled on an old jacket and headed out the door. 

\---- 

“So, what was so important that you decided you needed to see me in your PJ’s El” Adam leaned against the old wooden table inside the stables, he had a clipboard in his hand and was writing down the new roster. 

“I think I know what happened to Joel and Tommy, they’ve been missing for nearly two days. I don’t think they just simply got lost, I think they’re hurt Adam. ” She fiddled with the zip on her Jacket. 

“El even if they are hurt, we have no clue where they are. We checked the lodge. It’s empty, no sign of forced entry. Let’s just say they’ve been taken against their will; how would they know that Tommy and Joel would be in the lodge in the first place?” He placed his clipboard down on the table behind him, looking away from Ellie. 

“That’s where I was going, they aren’t just hurt someone has taken them against their will. Overpowered them somehow. The people knew they were going to be there because someone here in Jackson told them so.” She ran her fingers through her hair with irritation, what was so hard to understand. 

Adam sighed. 

“Ellie that has got to be the most far-fetched suggestion I’ve heard since this shit started. No one in Jackson and I mean no one has good reason to betray Tommy.” He balled his hands up into fists. 

“Well maybe this isn’t about Tommy! Joel had 20 years of doing some messed up shit would it be hard to believe that someone has come after him?” She snapped. Why did no one care about this. It was Tommy this and Tommy that. Not one single person cared that Joel was gone too. 

“Well, if it’s that messed up then maybe...just maybe he deserved it. People do what they do to survive Ellie, but sometimes just sometimes even that ain’t an excuse” Adam muttered. 

WHAT THE FUCK! 

“What the hell are you on about Adam. You don’t know Joel, not the way Edith does and certainly not the way me and Tommy know him. You can’t pass judgement on events you know nothing about.” She gripped her sleeves, trying to stop herself from punching him. 

“I know about Boston. I know about his smuggler friend, the one that died” He hissed. 

“How the hell...what the hell do you know about Tess” Her skin went icy cold; just how much did Adam know and how the hell did he know so much. 

“Before we came to Jackson, I was training. I was fighting for something I believed in. Now me and Edith weren’t together at this point. But that didn’t bother me, I knew she was safe in some QZ zone so I was content to train. My first assignment, was to pick up a little girl from smugglers. From there we would take her to the first base and pass her on and so on” He pulled the chair out from under the table. 

“You’re a firefly?” Her eyes widened. 

“I was a firefly. You see, you got to the building and I’m assuming that you found a few dead fireflies. We got overrun by some infected, the pretty much tore us apart. But we had the QZ soldiers on our back so we had to run, we couldn’t wait for the smuggler to bring the kid so we ran. And when we showed up empty handed; Marlene kicked our ass to the curb.” He turned to face Ellie, anger glowing in his eyes. 

“How is any of this Joel’s fault! He didn’t make you wait there! It was Marlene!” She snapped. 

“Oh, I don’t blame Joel for that. I blame Joel for what happened at that godforsaken hospital. I heard about Marlene moving the fireflies there, so I figured I’d go and beg for second chance. But when I got there...they had all been fucking slaughtered.” Ellie backed away from him, hearing the edge in his voice. 

“After that what was left of that team cleaned the place up and broke off. I never thought I’d see them again. But to my surprise, I found two of them patrolling near and old cabin a few weeks back. Apparently, they had heard from some traders that the smuggler had managed to slip away and start up a brand-new life not caring about what destruction he had left in his wake. I didn’t even realize they were talking about Joel until they said his name” He slammed his fist down on the table. 

“I’ve been living in this town with that murderous bastard for three years, and the worst part is he's all shacked up with my sister. My baby sister for whatever reason has fallen in love with the village idiot.” It was no secret that Adam had been uncomfortable when Edith’s relationship with Joel had first started, in fact Ellie had heard that he had tried to discourage Edith from pursing it. But Edith had been stubborn and shrugged him off determined to have what she wanted. Ellie had put this down to age. There were only 8 years between Adam and Joel, which was considerably smaller than Joel’s 17-year age gap with Edith. Even Joel had been hesitant to pursue anything with Edith but she had pushed and then out of nowhere they started seeing each other. 

“He only did it to keep me safe. Adam please! If you know where he is, tell me and I can tell these people. I don’t want them to hurt him Adam you don’t understand I don’t have any family left. If you take Joel from me, I have nothing!” She dropped to her knee’s. 

“I’ll beg you Adam! I’ll do anything. This is my fault. Not his, don’t let them kill him.” She pleaded with him. But his face remained the same mask of anger. 

He pulled Ellie from the floor, leading her further into the stables until they were at a small but empty storage cupboard. Upon arriving he tied her hands to one of the fixtures on the wall. 

“He may have done those things to keep you safe, but he ruined my life in the process” crouched behind some barrels pulling a rifle from a beaten-up duffle bag. “Now I need you to keep quiet” And he smacked the butt of the rifle into her temple rendering her unconscious. 

\---- 

Ellie opened her eyes; smoke burned her nose as she inhaled. She looked down; she was 14 again. She looked around her, she could just about make out where she was. Her hand clamped over her mouth to stop her screaming. 

David’s Town, more specifically the place where Ellie had killed David. The only difference was it was darker. And all around her, David’s raspy laugh bounced round the room. Ellie squeezed her eyes shut. He’s not real, this is all some bad dream. Don’t open your eyes. Just keep them closed. 

“Look at you. You can’t even look at me, you still just a weak little girl. But with no old man to protect you...” He cackled, amused by his own words as if they were a joke. 

Ellie opened her eyes. She heaved as she looked at his face, right where his left eye should be was a machete instead. Embedded into his skull, dried blood all over his face. She squeezed her eyes shut again. She felt his cold breathe on her face; he gripped her face with his hand. 

“Look at me. Look what you did to me Ellie!” He hissed. 

“No! Please just leave me alone!” She tried to pull herself away from him but nothing happened. Without thinking her eyes snapped open. David had an animalistic grin on his face. 

“I’m going to enjoy this!” He pulled out small knife, that was already covered in days old blood. 

\----- 

Ellie jumped awake; she was now lying down in a hospital bed. Her arms were restrained. She thrashed around trying to loosen the bonds but it didn’t work. Soon someone rushed to her side, pushing her back to her pillow and gently trying to soothe her. 

“Ellie! Ellie calm down! It’s okay it’s me. It’s Edith” Ellie stopped, locking eyes with Edith. Edith tried to smile reassuringly. 

Ellie looked around. 

“How did you find me?” She spoke. 

“I was looking for my brother in the stables this morning, I noticed he had been spending quite a bit of time in one of the backrooms. Apparently, he has a little stash of alcohol there and he slacks off there whenever he doesn’t feel like talking to me. To my surprise I found you there with a pretty nasty bruise on the side of your face. And considering Adam was the one of the only people to have access to that room I reported him to Maria. I need you to tell me if Adam did this to you?” Ellie did nothing but nod and Edith sighed. Edith went to the small desk in the corner of the room and picked up the radio lying on top of it. 

“Ellie has confirmed it Maria. Please get to him before he hurts anyone else” Ellie heard a garble from the other end of the radio before Edith set it down again. She sat herself at the end of Ellie’s bed. 

“I just want you to know that I don’t blame you for any of this. I love my brother but he is very different to the boy I knew all those years ago. Something changed in him and I don’t think my Adam will ever come back. He’s clearly taken against you for whatever reason” She held one of Ellie’s hands in hers. 

“I’ll get the restraints removed now that you’re awake.” And she slipped into the hallway. Ellie shut her eyes but feared what would happen if she went back to sleep. 

\----- 

When she came round again, Edith was monitoring her and Maria was slouched in the chair. Both had their eyes glued to her. She cleared her throat uncomfortably. Maria jumped in her seat slightly. 

“How are you feeling Ellie?” Maria said. 

“My head is still killing. I can’t tell if it’s the drugs or the pain but I’ll survive” Her eyes moved between Maria and Edith “Is there any news about Joel?”. 

Maria and Edith shot each other a look. Ellie was confused. 

“We may have found them. We were just waiting for you to wake up before we sent anyone. We felt you needed to know in-case they found anything” Maria’s voice shook slightly. 

“They’re already gone!” She sat up. 

“No... They’re getting ready to set off in the next hour or so” Edith steadied Ellie. 

“I need to go with them!” She begged. 

Maria sighed. “Ellie if I let you go. You have to promise me you won’t do anything stupid?”. 

“I promise!” She said. 

“You have twenty minutes to get dressed and get down to the stables. I’m pretty sure they’ll be briefing everyone on the plan soon” She headed for the door. 

“In the meantime, I think it’s time me and your brother had a chat Edith” And Maria left. 

I’m coming to get you Joel.


	2. Taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has some unpleasant themes but is vital to the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I've been sick the past week so I wasn't really in the mood to write, however the chapters will be posted a more regular pace after this one. I rewrote this chapter a few times which is another reason it took so long for me to post a this chapter, I changed the direction of the story slightly hence the new name but I hope my readers will stick around.

_ Hi all. _

_ Sorry the last chapter was a bit short. I didn’t want to overwhelm everyone with the changes in the game. I want to include some new characters and change the story of some existing characters in the course of this fanfiction. I would like to add that I’m not much of a writer, I only write in my spare time so it isn’t as refined as other fanfiction authors out there, that being said I hope you are willing to give my fic a chance. This chapter will be slightly longer than the others  _

** This chapter contains unpleasant themes. **

** Chapter 2 **

** “Taken”  **

** Joel’s POV **

_ Sarah was sat on the swing set, begging her father to push her higher and higher. She screamed as the swing soared through the air. Sarah loved the park; it was the only thing Joel could do to cheer her up. Sarah’s mother leaving had a big impact on her, sometimes she would cry out for her mom and nothing Joel did could soothe it, he would just sit with her in his lap and wait until she would fall asleep again. On the particularly rough nights he would crash on the floor, just to make sure he was there if she woke up again. She was only two yet this event had changed her so much. But she was much safer without her mother in her life _

_ Sarah jumped off the swing and rushed to sit beside her father. She looked up at with her big blue eyes, it still pained Joel to look at them because they reminded him of her mother.  _

_ “Daddy look at all the pretty flowers I found” Sarah grinned, holding up a small clump of dandelions. He smiled back at his daughter, not having the heart to tell her they were just weeds. _

_ “They’re very pretty darlin, but I think it’s time we head home” He said, the young girl pouted.  _

_ “C’mon I’ll get you some ice cream on the way home” And just like that she dumped the dandelions on the floor and leaped into her father's arms. On the way home Sarah fell asleep in her car seat, Joel felt it would be best to skip the ice cream. A grin spread across his face as his daughter snored softly in the back of the car. He wouldn’t deny the fact that their life was more difficult now that Sarah's mother wasn’t in it, but he preferred it this way. He didn’t have to worry about his ex-girlfriend being crashed on the couch drunk, while his daughter cried in her crib because she was hungry or she needed changing. Now he could drop her off at daycare and when he swung by at the end of the day, he felt happy seeing her so normal again. _

_ Joel felt his stomach drop as he pulled into his driveway. Sarah’s mother was waiting on the doorstep. Joel held his daughter tighter in his arms as he got closer to the front porch. She was slouched over on the front steps, her hands clasped around a small bottle of whiskey. He hated when she did this, it had been a common occurrence since she had signed her rights over to Joel. Every few weeks she would turn up under the guise of pretending to see her daughter but all she really wanted was money. Sometimes he wouldn’t see her for weeks and he would hope that she finally decided to leave them alone, but that was never the case. It was still daytime for god's  _ _ sake; _ _ daytime drinking was a new low even for her. _

_ “Wow, you really are desperate for money Danielle. What the hell do you want!” He snapped. _

_ Danielle looked up, her makeup was smudged and her clothes were dirty. How long had she been sitting here waiting for them to come  _ _ home? _

_ “I wanted...to see Sarah” She hiccupped. Their daughter stirred in his arms slightly. He held her tightly to his chest. _

_ “No, you don’t. You want money. You always want money, now get the hell off my property and leave me and my daughter alone!” He walked away, and slammed the door behind him. _

_ \------ _

“Sarah...” He mumbled. His head was sore, a dull ache raged war in the back of his head. He could feel dry blood mattered in with his hair. He opened his eyes slowly adjusting to the setting, he couldn’t remember much of what happened. 

He was in some sort of cellar/basement, very little light shone through but it was enough to identify his surroundings. He was tied to a chair, he tried tugging against but nothing happened. Not too far away from him was his brother, he was also tied up and was still unconscious. His breathing was shallow, he would need some medical attention soon.

The door creaked open; his captor took a seat opposite from him. She was a lot calmer than the people who had captured him and Tommy. He didn’t like it, even with the things he had done in his past he had never done it for pleasure, it was always to survive. But her  demeanor felt different, he could till she was enjoying this.

In her hands she held a hunting knife, she pulled her seat closer. She rested the flat edge of the blade against his knee. He cringed from the contact; he could feel the coldness of the metal through his jeans. 

“And so, the bastard wakes from his slumber. You know you’ve grown uglier over the past few years Miller.” She smiled when his eyes flittered as she mentioned his last name. 

“Surprised that I know your name? I was surprised to find out that the same man I served with for 4 years ratted me out his smuggler brother. I know a lot about you Joel, I’ve been trying to track you down for a while now” She said almost wistfully. 

“I liked Tommy; he was a good solider. Marlene liked him too. She would probably be just as hurt as me to find out that he betrayed us by telling someone about one of the bases. You see only a firefly can find another firefly” she said this as if it was known fact. 

“For the last time. I told you that wasn’t me.” Every time he was brought round, he was asked the same questions by different people and every time he gave them the same answer. The answers were lies of course. 

“Now why don’t I believe you? I may not know you personally Joel. But I know the man lying on the floor. The man who happens to be your brother” She took the blade from his leg and rested it against his cheek. Leaning in so she was at the same height as his ear. 

“We had fun times me and Tommy. He even slept with me once. I know a lot about him, and I know enough about you to know it was you that killed those fireflies at the hospital and it was you that stole the girl from that same hospital” She hissed. Her voice sent shudders down his spine.

“She  ain’t with me anymore. She’s gone. I don’t know where but I can promise that she’ll be  really hard to track down” This was all about Ellie. If he played his cards  right, they might just believe him, and then Ellie would be safe. He would gladly die knowing she was safe.

“You expect me to believe that the little girl that you transported half-way across the country just decided that she wanted nothing to do with you. That she just upped and left and that you have no idea where she is?” Damn. She was tough but he wouldn’t slip up not now. 

“She’s a teenager. She left me as soon as she turned 18. She couldn’t bear the sight of me; she thought I was a monster for killing all those people to get to her. I woke up one day and she was gone. Probably back to the QZ she was born in” He snapped. 

“NO!” The woman leaped to her feed, slamming the knife into the wall. She left the room in a rage. 

Joel was left to concentrate on his pain. Tommy was sprawled in the floor, dried blood on the side of his face. Joel called out quietly a few times to try and get his attention but Tommy was out cold. Joel couldn’t remember for the life of him how he’d got here, one minute he was in Old town searching for supplies and the next thing he knew he was here in the chair being questioned for hours on end. 

** A few hours later **

He was sure how, but he drifted off to sleep. The only difference was this sleep was dreamless and when he opened his eyes the woman was there again. She was staring at him with an angry hunger in her eyes. 

“Do you enjoy hurting people Miller. Did you enjoy killing all those fireflies back in the hospital” She spat at him. 

“No. I asked them to step aside but they refused. I didn’t take pleasure in any of it. But none of you gave the girl a choice in what she wanted to do. I wasn’t even given the chance to say goodbye to her”  He snapped.

“So, you killed innocent people just to say goodbye” She said.

“Innocent. You believe your innocent! You were going to murder an innocent child because you thought that you would be able to create a cure. Look at the world we live in! Is there anything worth saving?” He yelled at her.

“And you get to decide that do you?” She had the blade in her hands and at his throat in an instance.

“I might not have the authority on that but neither do you. I might not know where she is but I care for her just as much as your friend did.” He snapped. 

She hit him; he wasn’t sure what with but it was enough force to slam him into the floor. The chair cracked and he was left strapped to a broken seat. She called up the stairs and a quick exchange happened between her and the person lingered just out of sight. 

When she came back to him, she was holding a small shotgun in her hand. She turned it over once or twice. 

“You’re hiding something from me, so I’m going to give you one more chance to decide whether you want to tell the truth or not. You know where the girl is... don’t you?” She kneeled down, so she could look him in the eye. 

“Why don’t you get whatever speech you’ve got planned and get this over with ” He hissed. 

“Wrong answer!” And the shotgun sounded. Joel cried out as he felt blood soak his leg. He passed out quickly from the pain.

\----

He could feel two warm hands on his face. Gentle hands. He was sure he knew these hands. 

“Edith?” He called out.

“Oh, thank god he’s still alive” He heard her say something to someone. “We need to get him back to Jackson as soon as possible”. Joel opened his eyes slowly. And surely staring back him was the two brown eyes he loved to wake up to in the morning. 

“Hey sweetheart, am I late to something?” Joel joked  lightly; Edith laughed nervously. 

“Only you could Joke about something like this Joel. Oh, I’m so glad you’re still alive” She pressed her head to his. Planting kisses all over his face.

\----

** Two weeks later **

Joel opened his eyes; he was still groggy from all the drugs that had been pumped into his system. His mouth was dry, he looked around the room. Ellie was asleep on a small leather couch on the other side of the room, Edith was readjusting his drip. Upon noticing that he was awake, she smiled at him.

“Welcome back to the land of the living” She gently re-adjusted his pillows. “Don’t move too much your body is still trying recover from surgery.” 

“Surgery?” He looked down but the lower half of his body was covered by the two blankets, one belonged to the hospital and one was one that Edith had made him a few years back.

“Yeah, whoever attacked made sure they did a thorough Job. Luckly the doctors were able to save your leg but it’s probably  gonna scar pretty badly” Edith said.

“That’s a shame, was hoping to become a pirate” Edith giggled, and as he looked at his girlfriend, he realized she’d been crying. The smile on her face wavered and her eyes glistened. 

“Oh Joel, I’ve been so worried about you. I thought we might have gotten there too late and then when they took you into surgery and I couldn’t see you I panicked. I spent hours willing you to wake up. It was horrible seeing you so defenseless.” She positioned herself so she was laid next to him but was doing her best not to touch him. Joel looked around the room and realized that something, or rather someone was missing.

“Tommy? Where is he?” Was his brother okay, he couldn’t remember much to do with Tommy being there apart from the fact that his brother had been unconscious throughout the whole thing. 

“What do you remember about what happened with Tommy?” Edith avoided his eyes.

“Not much... he was out cold for most of the time we were there.... oh god, is he dead?” Panic rose in his voice, the one thing he had sworn to his mother was that he would always protect Tommy after she died and now...

“We don’t know, all we know is that he is missing. Whoever took you decided to keep Tommy” Edith sat up, and reached behind her.

“They left you this” She handed him a piece of paper.

_ Joel _

_ I’m hoping you’re still alive to receive this letter and deliver me my request. After all, once a smuggler always a smuggler. _

_ I want you to find the girl and bring her to me. I won’t tell you how to find me but I'll give you a clue.  _ **_ WLF.  _ ** _ I’m feeling generous today so you have a total of three months to track me down and give me what I want. Even if he is a traitor, he will be fed and tended to whilst you decided on what to do. Fireflies care for their own.  _

_ I want the girl. So, you bring her to me, and I will give you your brother back and we can go our separate ways and I can promise you that if you betray  _ _ me, _ _ I will hunt you to the ends of the earth. _

_ -A _

“Did you read it?” He asked. Edith looked away with guilt.

“Yes... I know that it was meant for you but I wanted to know why the attacked you. Ever since I  read, I’ve had one question burning in the back of my mind” She grabbed his hand. 

“What do the fireflies want with Ellie?” Joel shifted uncomfortably. Should he lie? He saw where that landed him with Ellie or does tell her the truth and potentially risk  endangering, her. 

“If I tell you the truth, I could put you in danger. And you might be uncomfortable with some off the things I’ve done” He admitted, he would leave the choice down to her. She was a grown woman; he really did not want to mess up his relationship with her the way he had with Ellie. 

“Just tell me Joel. Keeping secrets from the people you love only hurts them” He sighed. 

“I’ll briefly explain the bits you already know. Me and Ellie met whilst I was on a smuggling job, we were only supposed to get her out of the limits of the walls of the town, and then turn her over to a friend of hers. When we finally reached the place, after having to fight almost a dozen infected, the fireflies that were going to take Ellie of our hands were dead. Torn to bits by some infected that had moved through the building before that one. At this point I wanted to turn back, we had no clue what we were doing and now idea on how to get Ellie to the fireflies. The other smuggler I was with... her name was Tess. We were friends I guess...” He trailed off. 

“She’s the one who got bitten right?” Joel gulped and nodded. 

“When I realized what was happening to, she told me to take Ellie and get her as far as I could, for her. Told me to honor her last wish, and she gave Ellie and me the time to get out before some soldiers stormed the building. They were obliviously looking for not only the fireflies but us too, we had killed a few of them trying to get out the limits. We met some more people on the way, but one of them got infected. The other killed himself. And only thing that made me carry on after seeing that was Ellie. She wanted to get to the fireflies because she feels responsible for all the shit that had happened.” He bit his lip.

“So, I took her. I got her there, and it almost killed her. But the fireflies didn’t care. I woke up in some hospital bed with the leader, Marlene staring back at me. Told me Ellie was being prepped for some surgery. To do with her immunity... then they told me that the surgery was to remove the growth on her brain. And that’s when all the shit went down. None of them were  gonna give Ellie the chance at having a normal life. They wanted to kill her and try and make some cure but they even admitted that it might have not worked anyway. So, they were going to kill this poor girl for a maybe. Not a definite” He turned away from Edith ashamed.

Edith sat there for a while; she was still. She knew of Ellie’s immunity and to some degree of what had happened with the fireflies. But Joel had wanted to avoid telling her the whole story, he knew doing this had damaged his relationship with Ellie but that had been different. Ellie was directly involved in all of this, keeping the truth from her was to stop her feeling the guilt she had admitted to Joel she felt whenever she saw the infected. He didn’t want Edith to think he was a monster, so he kept his mouth shut. 

“Why keep this from me Joel. Help me understand this please. I have never done anything to betray the trust that I thought we had between us. Yet you strive to keep something so big from me because you were scared of my reaction. Why Joel?” Her face was decorated with hurt.

“Darlin, you don’t understand. I didn’t keep it from you because I wanted to keep it from you, but the less people who knew about the whole story the better. It’s not that I wanted to keep this from you. I wanted to tell you... so bad. But your ignorance would have kept you safe” Edith removed herself from the bed. She pulled on her jacket.

“I’m not mad... I just need some time to process this Joel. I'm  gonna go get some fresh air” And she left. 

Joel closed his eyes, regretting what he had said. Before he could drift off to sleep again, he made one promise to himself. That he would find his  brother . 


	3. Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joel settles back into Jackson but with his brother still on his mind, will be able to entirely settle back in. However some important news changes the way Joel feels about going after Tommy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeez guys sorry this chapter has taken so long to come out, I've rewritten it about 3 times. I promise that the updates will be more frequent after this. This chapter doesn't really have any action in it. It more or less deals with Joel settling back into Jackson. From now on each chapter will swap between Joel and Ellie's point of view. However if this needs to be changed for whatever reason I will put who's pov you are reading at the top. :) Enjoy!

** Chapter three **

** “Alone” **

** Joels POV **

Joel opened his eyes, slightly groggy. He turned to face his sleeping girlfriend; he brushed her hair out of her face. Smiling slightly. At least someone was getting sleep round here. While recovering from his injuries Joel hadn’t really been able to leave his bed. He spent most of the time staring at the ceiling. There was no point sleeping too much. He was often greeted by nightmares whenever he closed his eyes. He would wake most nights doused in sweat, struggling to breathe and a minor shake to his hands. It was almost as bad as the time he lost Sarah, for years after that he struggled to sleep without seeing her lifeless body. It had gotten better since Ellie; it would never go away completely but he knew that and was almost grateful. He never wanted forget his daughter. 

Every night he was taunted with nightmares of Tommy’s death. Nearly every torture method possible. On the really bad nights, he would wake yelling. Edith would try to soothe him but nothing would work. He couldn’t stop thinking of his brother, he refused to stop thinking of him. His knee was getting better and was allowing him to move around a bit more but he didn’t like to push it.

He settled in his woodworking room, he been able to make anything. He wasn’t able to concentrate but sometimes sitting and looking at what he had made would keep his mind of the nights in the lodge. He reached over grabbing a picture frame. It was him, Tommy and Sarah. Sarah was only two or three years old but she was happy and content. Sarah had adored her uncle, and always cried when he left. Whenever Tommy would go away on his jobs, he would always bring her something back. Mainly little trinkets because she wasn’t well travelled. But the two raised Sarah as best they could.

“I’ll get him back. I won’t lose him too” He whispered to himself. He put the picture back, and went down stairs. It was early in the morning maybe 4 or 5 o’clock, he wanted some coffee. He limped into the chicken. Grasping at a chair, when pain shot up and down his leg. He grunted. He boiled some water, and made his coffee. He had to drink it black most of the time, since milk was often in short supply in the winter months. He didn’t mind. He was just glad he still got to enjoy coffee. 

He warmed his held the mug in his hands, warming himself with the heat that almost radiated from it. The silence that surrounded him made him uncomfortable, he felt vulnerable but he would only have to deal with it for a few hours. 

\----

The sun filtered through the curtains in the living room, he sighed making his way back up the stairs and to his room. He pulled on an old shirt, some jeans and jacket. The weather had calmed down immensely since Tommy’s capture but it didn’t make him feel any better. He made his way back up the stairs to the woodworking room, he cleared the desk, and opened the draw pulling out a small battered notebook and a map. 

He been writing down anything he could remember about the women who had taken him. She was about 10 years younger than Joel. She was physically fit; she had a scar on her face that went from the right brow to the left side of her mouth. And she had a year tattooed on her wrist. He wasn’t sure what the year meant. It could be the year she joined the fireflies but that seemed unlikely, Tommy didn’t have anything like that. Or at least Joel was sure he hadn’t seen one. He knew Tommy had kept a few pictures and his old jacket but that was about it. Tommy hadn’t really wanted to remember his failed time in the fireflies.

Joel was still unsure how the fireflies had still been able to carry on after all this time, Marlene was almost like the glue that held them together, with her dead, part of Joel had hoped that they would fall apart and not carry on where she left off. He assumed that was why she was after Ellie. Because of the cure that they had hoped to make. There was no other reason for them to want Ellie.

Back in the lodge he had overhead something about Seattle. He wasn’t sure if that was where they were going but it was a lead. Slowly things had been coming back to him, the face of the woman that had tortured him. The torture its self and some conversations that he had overhead. His leg was starting to feel much better, if he gave himself a few more days he would be able to set off just before the weather could turn again. He wasn’t great at mapping things out, but he planned the best route possible. It would take him a good few day on foot to reach Seattle, he was hoping he would be able to take his horse with him. He tried to think about Seattle back before the outbreak, he wondered how much it had changed. Was the Space Needle still  standing?

He had just about everything planned out. He tucked everything away. Not wanting either Ellie or Edith to find out. Ellie would want to come with him and Edith would want him to stay. And for a while he just sat there, staring out the window. He jumped when a gentle hand was placed on his shoulder. 

“Oh, I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just wanted to check in on you.” Edith smiled at him; Joel took her hand in his. After Danielle, Joel believed that he would never find love again. Not that the relationship that he had with Danielle was great. He had believed that there had been something between him and Tess but neither one of them had wanted to admit it. 

He hadn’t thought much of Edith when they had first met, they came to Jackson about a year or so after Joel and Ellie came back to Jackson. She was polite and seemed to be a very caring person but she had never particularly caught his eye, she was young and did have plenty of suitors but she brushed them off most of the time. It was only when she had started training as a nurse that he ran into her more often, and got to know her better. After a while, she would stop by his house to check on him. Just minor things but it wasn’t long before Joel had cottoned on that she was doing it so she could speak to him. And it grew from there. Her face lit up whenever she saw him, she was always more concerned whenever he stumbled into the hospital. Something changed inside of him when he realized that what he was feeling was love.

“Do you want some breakfast? You didn’t each much last night” She put her head on his shoulder “I just want to make sure you are looking after yourself”.

He wasn’t hungry but he would eat something to settle her nerves. 

“I can cook something for us. I might get too comfortable if you do the cooking all the time” Joel grinned at his girlfriend. She placed a kiss gently on his lips before wrapping her arm round his, he pulled himself to his feet. He felt normal cooking. Before Edith, he used to do most of cooking. He wasn’t great but he needed to be able to feed both himself and Ellie. 

“Something smells good!” Ellie waltzed into the kitchen. Typical, she could smell food like a bloodhound. He chuckled to himself.

“I’m assuming you want some too.” She feigned a puzzled look for a moment “Depends who cooking it, I prefer Edith’s cooking” 

“Well then no food for you” Edith laughed, and Ellie pouted.

\---

“I have a shorter patrol today. A few clickers have been seen on the edge of the woods. I won’t be long Joel” Ellie patted his shoulder, before leaving. He didn’t want to portray any sort of emotion on his face, he was scared of letting Ellie know that he worried every second she was out of his sight. He wasn’t possessive, he was scared. Ellie was the reason these people had tracked Joel down. He didn’t want her to know these people were after her, if she knew she would go after them and there would be no stopping her. 

He bit his lip, deep in thought. He still wasn’t sure about how he was going to leave without Ellie noticing, he would just have to make sure he didn’t leave a trail for her to follow. The woman still bothered him, she reminded him too much of someone. He still had the note from her, nothing gave anything away. Just that she wanted Ellie. Edith was curled up on the sofa, sleeping. She slept a lot lately, and she been quite emotional. But Joel thought it was just thought she was worn out by the whole situation.

He went into the kitchen; Ellie’s jacket was hung on the chair. He groaned; he went out into the back making his way to her little house. He opened the door, folding her jacket over the chair. He was about to leave when something caught his eye. A note and homemade calendar. Something was circled in red. ** Moms Birthday. ** He was aware that Ellie had lost her mother not long after she was born, but he didn’t know she still celebrated her birthday. He didn’t want to seem nosy but his eyes quickly skimmed over the letter 

_ Ellie,  _

_ I'm going to share a secret with you, I'm not a big fan of kids and I hate babies. And yet... I'm staring at you and I'm just awestruck.  _

_ You're not even a day old and holding you is the most incredible thing I've done in my life - a life that is about to get cut a little short.  _

_ Marlene will look after you. There's no one in this world I trust more than her. When the time  _ _ comes, _ _ she'll tell you all about me. Don't give her too much of a hard time. Try not to be as stubborn as me.  _

_ I'm not going to  _ _ lie; _ _ this is a pretty messed up world. It won't be easy. The thing you always have to remember is that,  _

_ Life is worth living! Find your purpose and fight for it.  _

_ I see so much strength in you. I know you'll turn out to be the woman you're meant to be.  _

_ Forever... your loving mother  _

_ Anna  _

_ Make me proud, Ellie! _

Anna. The mother Ellie never got to know. He was now overwhelmed with guilt; he had never thought about how losing her mother would have impacted her. He would make an effort to talk about it when they had some time alone. 

He left everything as it was, he didn’t want to Ellie to think he was intruding. He made his way back to the house. When he got back, Edith was no longer on the sofa. He heard something upstairs. He made his way upstairs slowly. The bathroom door was slightly ajar. Edith’s head was resting on the toilet bowl. She was breathing heavily.

“Edith?” Joel called out, her eyes shot open and she wiped her grabbed some tissue and wiped her mouth. She looked up at Joel. With a sudden movement she was over the bowl again, throwing up. Joel sat by her side rubbing her back. What was wrong with her? When she was finished, he felt her head. She didn’t have a temperature but she was as pale as a ghost. 

“I’m fine. Just food poisoning” She groaned resting against the bathtub. Deep down Joel felt this was more than food poisoning but what else could it be? Did she have some sort of virus?

“Are you sure you don’t want to go get checked out? I can take you?” He held her hand in his. 

“No. I don’t want to waste their time. It’s just food poisoning Joel” She huffed.

“But Edith you barely ate anything yesterday. You’ve been sleeping a lot more lately. And you’ve been cry at the smallest of things” He said. He moved wrapped his arms around her but she went stiff. She was being stubborn for whatever reason Joel could not figure out 

“You would be too if you were in my position! I barely get any sleep anymore because I’m scared that you’re  gonna disappear into the night and not tell anyone. And then there’s the worry that you might not even come back, do you know how difficult that is? I know you want to go after Tommy but going by yourself will get you both killed” She snapped at him, shrugging him  off. “I don’t want to raise a child by myself Joel”. 

A child? Ellie was well out of childhood; she would be twenty years old next year. He hardly considered her a child.

“A child?” His voice wavered slightly. 

“Oh, c’mon Joel. I thought I would be able to pass it off as food poisoning but I didn’t realize you would pick up on all the other things.” She turned to face him.

“Other things?” He raised an eyebrow. Now he was confused.

“I’m pregnant Joel” She stared at him, gauging for a reaction. 

Pregnant....

“How?” He managed to whisper.

“Well when a man and a woman love each other very much...you see where I’m going with this Joel” She rolled her eyes. A smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

“But we were always careful” He buried his face in his hands. A father? Could Joel even consider the possibility of being a father to a child again. With Ellie it was easy, she knew the difference between right and wrong. He hadn’t really had to raise Ellie much; he missed all the important stuff. But a child would be completely dependent on him. Could a man like him really be a father again? After all he’s done.

“I’m not sure how careful you can be without contraception Joel. I mean birth control is quite hard to come by” She ran her fingers through his hair “I want to keep it Joel. I know this child would make another family happy but I couldn’t fathom the possibility of living so close to it. Maybe it would be different if I didn’t want it but I do. Because it’s our child”. 

He sighed. 

“If you don’t want to raise the child, I will do it by myself. But that means we can’t be together Joel.” They spent a while sat there. He looked up at her. 

“I don’t want to lose you Edith but I need some time for this to sink in. That don’t mean I don’t want it but I this is different for me Edith. This child  ain’t my first, Sarah was difficult growing up and I missed most of Ellie’s life. I just need you to understand that”. It’s not that he didn’t want a child, but after losing Sarah and messing up his relationship with Ellie he was  terrified that he would do something to ruin this child’s life too.

“That’s fine. I mean you have 9 months to decide” She grinned at him; he was glad to see that she understood him. It warmed him. He smiled back at her.

“I would really like to a glass of water now. My throat is quite raw” She pulled herself to her feet unsteadily. Joel nodded, offering his arm as  assistance . 

\----

About two hours passed before Ellie came back. He was relieved when she walked through the door unscathed. Often, she came back with a few bumps and cuts. She flopped onto the couch, letting a sigh of relief out. 

“Tough day?” Edith poked at Ellie.

“Man, you wouldn’t believe it. It was a decent size  hoarde moving through almost as big as the ones that Joel and Tommy went after-” She stopped after realizing what she said, he put the plate that he was cleaning down. He hated how people stopped talking about Tommy or froze whenever they said his name. It made him feel worse.

“Anything  interestin happen?” He rested against the counter. 

“We met some traders, apparently they were pointed in the direction of Jackson by some other traders. Apparently, the other traders were heading to Seattle” Joel sucked in a sharp breath. It had to be them, were they still in the area? 

Was it too foolish to hope that they were in the  Area?

Joel rushed out the door.


End file.
